Humanverse

Emma vs Emmajean

American parents have registered 778,172 Emmas since 1880, against 727 Emmajeans. Emma is still ahead, with 12,768 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Emma against Emmajean, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Emma Emmajean

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Emma has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1960, when Emma had 976 and Emmajean had 5.

Side by side

  Emma Emmajean
Total US births 778,172727
Most in one year 22,75627
Babies in 2025 12,76822
Estimated living today 570,000500
Median age today 1612
Peak year 20032008
Best rank 2nd girls5,279th girls
Rank in 2025 3rd5,554th
First recorded 18801917
Girls / boys 776,439 / 1,733727 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Emmas alive today are over 16; half the Emmajeans are over 12. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Emma and Emmajean.